Since manufacturers around the globe constantly have to adapt to ever shifting market conditions, any technology that lends a competitive advantage can be a game changer. Implementing wireless on the factory floor can be just that. And our announcement with Rockwell Automation this week at Automation Fair, will make this a no-brainer. The announcement covered enhancements to our joint architecture with Rockwell Automation called the Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE). The Cisco branded version, called Connected Factory, is a portfolio of validated, proven architectures, capabilities and market-leading technologies and services for industrial markets. Factory Wireless is the latest solution offering in this portfolio and delivers unified wireless for industrial applications. Read More »

The contact center came into being nearly 25 years ago and is now the de facto communication channel for organizations to connect with their customers. A lot has changed since then. And there’s much more change to come with mobility, big data, collaboration, and the Internet of Everything making their collective mark on the user experience.

Recently Paul Stockford, founder and chief analyst of Saddletree Research, and I discussed the evolution of the contact center and our predictions for what’s next. You can listen to the Future of IT podcast episode via iTunes.

The Internet of Things opens up a wide range of possibilities for businesses, especially in the context of an increasingly mobile workforce and primarily mobile customers. To distill down which aspects of IoT are meaningful for business, I joined panelists from Google Enterprise, AnyPresence, and OpenMarket at the Open Mobile Summit to share our thoughts with moderator Maribel Lopez. Here are some of the key insights I took away from our conversations:

The opportunity for businesses is about so much more than just connecting Things. Our industry calls it the Internet of Everything to describe how People, Process, Data, and Things get connected to drive business value. When you look at new ways to connect all aspects of a business, everyone in your organization can make better decisions – and your business can run with greater operational efficiency. Read More »

Automation experts are planning to attend SPS IPC Drive, the largest electrical automation event in Europe, which takes place in Nuremberg, Germany, November 25 to 27.

Following the very positive experience of last year, Cisco has a significant presence at this event, focusing on the theme “Internet of Things: Connecting the Unconnected.” Join us in with our booth (Hall 10 – Stand 10-540) and in ODVA (hall 2 – Stand 2-458) and Profinet (Hall 2 – Stand 2-220/221) booths.

We are living in the age of the “supertasker.” At Cisco Live Cancun last week, I polled our audience and asked, “How many devices are you connected to at this moment?” The majority of the audience held three or four. However, some still had their hands up at five and six devices. Supertaskers are emerging as the next-generation workforce, integrating several new devices to increase their productivity—and they will not be the minority for long.

As the Internet of Everything (IoE) continues to evolve, we see increased momentum towards connecting the unconnected. The Fitbit, for example, reminds us that we need to achieve our daily step goal while maintaining our work-life balance. As more organizations digitize their business, we expect 50 billion objects to be connected to the Internet by 2020—and more and more of these devices will integrate into our ever-changing work lives. Read More »

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